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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Friday's Food for Thought

How often do you pay attention to your shoes? You could consider that an odd question based on the quote above, but I am going somewhere with it.

When you are a leader, your team is most likely much more observant than you think they are. Have you ever walked by a safety violation? Somebody not wearing his/her safety glasses when they should? How about a moment when the entire team knows a person went the extra mile (landed a big account, created a new tool that saves a lot of time, whatever) and you didn't recognize it? Or maybe you did catch the safety issue and publicly congratulated the person for good work. The point is that your actions are noticed. If you missed the safety glasses, then your team may think you don't care about safety and start getting lax about their glasses (or other things). What if the person who went the extra mile is recognized, the team will know you value the extra work that people put it, and work that much harder and smarter.

As a leader you are leading every time you are out there, in front of your team or not. And the actions you take or don't take can and will impact your team; whether the impact is intentional or not. My point is: Try to pay attention to the details, because your choices will impact where the team thinks your priorities are.

Still wondering about the shoes? Are they polished? Are they scuffed? Are the non-slip soles worn so thin that they now can be used on a slip and slide? What message are your shoes sending? Is it the message you intended for your team? Little details can really impact how you are perceived. Take a moment to go over your appearance and choices; and ask if that perception is what is intended. Then pull out the shoe polish, and put a nice shine on your shoes this weekend.